Incarnae

Chapter 1

The air was moist and dank, but not the pleasant wetness that accompanies a sea breeze loaded with the salt and spray of the ocean. No, this was the moisture seeping out of a block of cheese left out in the sun. The very smell of it urged me to depart, and yet we traveled deeper. Following that fool Bryan Broke after this Amara woman. I didn’t strictly care whether she could close the hole, or what she knew. My leg hurt where I was bitten, blood trickling out of the bandage. My chest ached with every step though I refused to let it show.

Our procession stopped, Bryan clearly hesitant to continue. He started speaking, meaningless words about locations moving about. And danger ahead. There were five of us other than Bryan wandering these odd tunnels. Red, the singer from the Crimson club, coated in dust and holding a gun. She was glowing, lighting our path, which was bizarre but I have seen odder things. Malcolm walked next to me, the bandage on his shoulder soaked with blood as well. He held a pistol in hand, though it had proven unreliable. Better to use a blade, or a fist. From behind, a quick cut and it’s over.

Vivian seemed the most comfortable, in a short black dress and strands of pearls. She seemed to prance almost, wild and exploratory. Even now our position halted she seemed to be in motion. And our fifth member Wade, he’d let the women deal with the hounds Malcom and I hadn’t stopped. Poor form that.

A voice broke through my thoughts, it was Bryan and he seemed for pressing on. Not knowing any other paths, but I could see one in the wall. I was pretty sure I could open it. Ignoring logic, which often gets in the way of instinct I pressed my finger against the wall. As soon as I started I could feel the wind and the rain on my face. Light shown where my finger touched as I scribed a sign upon the wall. Not a sign, a sigil. One I had seen long ago in my mirror. When the bolt of was finished the light flashed and thunder echoed around us. The wall opened ahead of us into a passage headed upwards.